Originally posted by Just1MoreDave I also want to know how/why 179 layers, because 179 is a prime number and I thought you got to large numbers by folding and refolding.
Two 11 layer billets of 1095 and 15N20 ( a total of about 1kg of steel), each forged down to a third of their thickness, then stacked together to make 22 layers. That was again squished to about 10mm thickness and cut into four and re-stacked to make an 88 layer billet. I then forged that down to a huge, long billet about 450mm long, 50mm wide and 4mm thick.
Two slices of that, with a thin layer of 15N20 in between, and a layer of wrought iron (recycled from an antique wagon wheel) on each side, makes 179.
It's still a work in progress, but after many more hours of forging, grinding, etching and handle fitting, it's the bottom of the two knives pictured here in this impromptu iPhone image:
Last edited by Sandy Hancock; 05-30-2021 at 02:26 AM.